Two hours later, the furious blacksmith had secured his belongings and packed a small knapsack for his travels. His face grew sour as he set out on the main road, steadily moving towards the Goshin province.

Bakura snorted to himself as he passed by the richly forested lands. 'What the h*ll am I doing... going on a kidnapping mission for some psychotic lord with a princely obsession...' The light-haired smithy could feel the midday sun warming his back as the leafy trees began to thin. 'Which reminds me... how the h*ll do I even abduct a prince being guarded by an angry magician?!' Although skilled with swords, the metalworker knew he had no chance of defeating a master magister. 'Hopefully I can sneak inside while they're both asleep... maybe I can nab the royal brat before his tutor notices anything is awry...'

The forest path was mostly dirt, but occasionally a stray stone or branch tried to trip up the reluctant traveler.

'Curse these stones...' The iron-smith snarled to himself as he nearly lost his balance for the third time. He glanced upwards and could just see the position of the sun through the tree leaves. 'Hm... it's almost lunchtime...' Bakura was just debating whether to pause for a break, when he heard something moving towards him on the path ahead.

It sounded like several men were all cursing loudly. Inquisitive but wary, the sly metalworker darted behind a large elm tree, and waited as the voices grew closer.

"That's enough of your chatter, slave!" There was a rapid clanking sound, like metal on metal.

"ARGH! I can't take it anymore! I'm gonna rip out his tongue myself!" Another man violently promised.

'Bandits... and it seems like they've got a captive...' Bakura frowned. He really didn't feel like tangling with such an unpleasant group, but he'd never traveled to Goshin before. He needed to stay on the path to avoid getting lost. The metalworker noticed a small stone gleaming innocently in the midday light, and he smirked. One swift flick of his wrist, and the sedimentary missile made a loud *clack!* as it struck a tree just behind the brigands.

"What?!" The three men stopped, clearly thinking someone was behind them. Two of the trio quickly drew two very battered daggers, while the third kept a hold on their prisoner.

"Who's there?!" The largest man called out, clearly unsure what they'd heard.

"Oy, let's stop with the games- come out and we'll let you leave, sans your coin-purse!"

But Bakura only smirked. There was a glint of light, and three throwing knives suddenly shot out towards the thieves. Each one struck the tree closest to its human target.

"My daggers are as perfect as my aim. The next set will find your throats." A dark voice promised grimly.

The three bandits glanced nervously at the lustrous blades, before dropping the chains of their captive and fleeing into the woods.

Annoyed, the metalworker stepped out from behind the thick trunk of an oak tree. "Tch... fools." He didn't realize lowering his voice would be that effective at scaring off the lily-livered brigands.

"Hmm?" Bakura glanced downwards when he heard a sound- there, lying on the ground, was another young man. His hair was the color of heated gold, and his skin was the same shade as bark the three blades had embedded in. Bakura rudely pointed at the shackled victim and snapped out, "and who the hell are you?!"

"Eh?" The blonde youth blinked, clearly uncertain what had just transpired. "Wow, that was you making that deep voice?!"

Annoyed by the skepticism, the iron-worker scowled. "And what of it? If you do not find my appearance intimidating, perhaps you would like to sample my blades?" He gestured pointedly towards the three knives, still embedded in their trees.

But the unusual foreigner only stared in awe while the metal-smith retrieved his blades from the bark. "Damn, you're skilled!"

"I know." The other man replied blankly. "Now, as I said before- just who the hell are you?"

"Right, sorry! My name is Malik!" The still-chained captive stood up, brushing the dirt off his lavender tunic as he stood. "Thanks for saving me!

Growing increasingly irritated, Bakura strived to cut off the blathering fool before he could carry on. "I wasn't trying to save you; I was just teaching those idiots a lesson!"

But the blonde immigrant only shrugged. "Semantics. Either way, it doesn't change the facts. I was recently captured from my homeland and taken to be a slave." He gestured behind them with one tanned thumb. "Those three fools managed to rob the traders who were transporting me, and thought I added to their hefty spoil."

"I believe they were badly mistaken." Bakura muttered harshly under his breath as he re-set his pack. "Now if you would kindly leave me be, I have an important errand to run." He stepped back onto the path, flinching as the bronzed loudmouth followed him.

"But you saved my life!" The outsider insisted as he trailed behind the prickly blacksmith. "I must repay you somehow!"

"That's bullcr*p!" The white-haired wayfarer hissed without turning around. "I didn't save you from death; I just scared away your captors! Now leave me alone!"
"Nope!" Malik quickly matched his stride with his rescuer's as he explained. "Besides, I have to repay my debt- it's part of my Lesthalian culture, you know!"

"I don't give two sh*ts about your 'culture!'" Bakura snapped, starting to lose all patience. The red-eyed man finally turned to glare at the pestiferous tag-along. "Besides, isn't that the stupidest repayment possible? 'Oh, you saved me from slavery, so now I'm your slave!'? It's completely redundant!"

Malik put one dark hand up to his chin in thought as they marched. "Hmm... maybe- but it doesn't matter! I won't stop you from going about your errands; I'm just journeying with you until I can pay you back!"

"LEAVING me alone would be the best repayment!" The exasperated smithy nearly howled at the clueless sap. "You're obviously dense, so allow me to enumerate: LEAVE. ME. ALONE!"

Malik nodded once. "Yep- as soon as I've paid you back. Say, what kind of snacks did you pack? I'm starving!" The oblivious parasite began unabashedly rummaging through the burlap knapsack hanging between Bakura's shoulder blades.

Meanwhile, the pack's owner was struggling to control his rage as he internally debated what would take longer- letting this loud fool travel alongside him, or burying his lifeless body without a shovel.

"Geez, don't you have anything vegan in here?! It's almost all meat!"

"..." Definitely leaning towards burying.